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HP Software Update Cancels Food Stamps

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-soup-for-you dept.

Spy Handler writes "A software update of the California welfare computer system (CalWIN) caused 37,000 Food Stamp recipients to lose their EBT (a credit card paid for by the government) benefits last weekend. According to the article, Hewlett Packard was responsible for the failed update of CalWIN, but at 8:00 a.m. today Xerox (who administers another state welfare system called CalFresh) issued a patch that reactivated the EBT cards."

1 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. The faciststs arrived right on cue by eksith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Knew when I saw the title, there would be posts praising HP for their blunder. Look, welfare needs reform, no one (sane) doubts that, but to end the whole system indiscriminately is both counterproductive and inhumane. There are many reasons why someone would need to go on welfare so learn a bit more sympathy and please stop the thinly veiled "kill 'em all" attitude.

    Besides, the they fixed the mess in a day, so at most this was a major inconvenience.

    --
    If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.